Abstract

During the Renaissance in Europe, between roughly 1300 and 1650, a number of intellectual discourses and practices helped shape the discipline of architecture. This article is not about canonical buildings or the evolution of distinctive stylistic characteristics but rather six key topics within an overall threefold structure: heritage and rupture with the tradition, innovative and original aspects, and impact and legacy. The six topics are geometry as the scientific foundation of architecture; humanism, antiquarianism, and the recovery of ancient architecture; architectural histories and the creation of an all’antica architecture; the canonization of the architectural orders; the production of architectural theory; and disegno and the use of architectural drawings. Intellectual history, rather than an art history of styles, is the general approach. It begins with a history of the term “Renaissance” and its application to architecture.